All hitched up and ready to head to the lake

January 4, 2018 - Thursday

-2 degrees/cloudy skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

Well, darn it, it was my intention to have a picture of trophy-sized fish displayed prominently at the top of today's blog. Yeah, that didn't happen.

I can't blame my vision for yesterday's poor catch. I could see the hole, my line, and the sonar, just fine. What I didn't see was any fish.

I'd spent over an hour making sure everything was ready to pull the ice shack to the lake before finally leaving late in the morning. With the wind howling and the windchill approaching a hundred below zero, I put on my big boy pants... 'er, mittens, and took off down the road with ice shack in tow.

I was almost to the top of the big hill immediately to our north when the Tundra began to sputter, loosing power.  A veteran Tundra owner with over 75,000 miles under my belt, I quickly identified the problem as a fouled plug.

The machine and ice shack were turned around and I sputtered back down the hill and into the drive.

What? No spare plug? There was nothing to do but drive to town, spending $10 in gas to purchase a $3 plug. I bought two of them. Rule number one when operating a snowmobile, ALWAYS carry a spare plug.

Describing conditions on the lake as brutal would be a vast understatement. 

At one point, I completely lost visibility and had to slow down until the current gust of wind subsided.

I moved three times in my quest to find fish. They remained elusive for the next three hours.

The shadows were growing long when I finally turned the heat off in the shack and stowed the fishing gear. It was time to go home, empty handed.

I don't mind pulling the ultra light-weight shack back and forth to the lake. It's really no different than towing the boat trailer in the summer months. Of course, it only works as long as Pentoga Road has a good base of packed snow.

Funny thing about snowmobiles. They work a lot better on snow than a bare pavement.

My body felt as though it had been thoroughly beaten late yesterday afternoon. My back hurt so badly that I had difficulty bringing in the day's supply of wood and took one prescription ibuprofen, followed by another an hour later. I was finally able to function and by bedtime, felt fine. I wonder what that was all about?

Sargie arrived home late last night as she had to close the Vision Center. She's off today, but closes Friday and Saturday nights. 

I just started the heat in the shop and will head out that way as soon as the blog gets uploaded. With a high of 4 degrees today, colder tomorrow with accompanying wind, I doubt we'll be outside frolicking and making snow angels. No doubt, we will go for our ride later this afternoon.

The shop should be warm now. Time to get busy.

After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

On a whim, I gave Sargie a light board as one of her presents for Christmas and really enjoy the different messages she leaves me.
Hmm, I wonder if she's trying to tell me something?